Crescendo Tears
by DameNeko
Summary: Something terrible has happened to Lina. She won't talk about it--she's even locked herself in her room. What's going on? Can Zelgadis reach her? (If my punctuation looks funny, it should really be ..., not a period)


Crescendo Tears  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Slayers characters. Don't sue me ^^. I do take credit for the storyline though. Please don't copy the story or use it without asking.  
  
Note: This fic is kind of dark, and seems to hint at very emotional things. I will do a sort of sequeal to this if I get enough reviews. I also promise to finish My Angel sometime this holiday.  
  
She lay on the floor, her shoulders hugged up to her chest. Her eyes were wide open and void of emotion, just staring blankly at the rip in the leg of her pants. Her long hair, typically lustrous red and wavy, lay still around her pale arms.  
  
How did this happen to me? She wondered silently, her thoughts the loudest sound in the dark little room at the inn.  
  
Why did this happen to me? She continued on, her mind stuck on continuous feed back, a record stuck on the high note.  
  
L-sama.? Why.? Why?  
  
She heard the sounds of steps coming to her door. It would be a friend of her's again, asking her if she was all right. Gourry had been by first, bumbling and confused when Lina didn't answer. Then had come Amelia, but Lina had just muttered go away to the bubbly princess. Then Filia, even Xellos. She wondered who it was this time.  
  
"Lina.? You have to come out some time.,"  
  
She shut her eyes with a frown. Zel.she thought painfully, though she made no move to reply.  
  
"I-ah..ah..we miss you," he murmured.  
  
"Please go," she mumbled to the chimera, not moving from her spot.  
  
"Lina.I'm not leaving. I just got back from the cave.the others told me you ran back here three nights ago in a shawl and refused to come out."  
  
There was a long silence. She made no move to reply.  
  
"I'm going to talk to you Lina. Whether you like it or not. The others are too afraid to go in there, but I'll break open the door if I have to."  
  
She almost smiled. Almost, almost, but almost isn't good enough. Almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades. She chose to remain silent, hoped that he'd go away if she didn't answer. Zel.please. Don't come in.don't see me like this.  
  
"Alright Lina.I gave you chance. I'm breaking open the door." He paused, hoped she'd answer. He shook his head when she didn't and stooped over to the lock. He tapped it, whispering a chant, and it clicked. He paused only for a moment, then swung the door open and stepped inside-to utter blackness.  
  
Lina bit her lip and remained silent as he stepped in and shut the door behind him. "Ligh-"  
  
"No.," she whispered, effectively stopping him from bringing the room to light. She knew he probably looked confused, and knew instinctively his head was turning in her direction, his hearing heightened. She shut her eyes tighter. "Don't.no light."  
  
He nodded, then said "Alright," as he realized she couldn't see him. "But.why?"  
  
"Because," she muttered unhappily, still curled up on the floor.  
  
He sniffed the air slightly. Dust, sweat, tears. He frowned and moved to where her bed was and sat on it, a slight creak of protest permeating the silent room. "Lina.," he started, then stopped when his voice cracked from unhappiness. He cleared his throat, and began anew. "Lina.it hurts to see you like this. Please, you know you can trust me with anything. I'm still Zel.you're still Lina, no matter what may have happened. Just.talk, please. Please, Lina."  
  
Still Lina."You have no idea," she whispered.  
  
He laughed, short and sardonic, as he rubbed a stone fingertip across a rocky hand. "Try me. You'd be surprised.remember, this is Zelgadis," he reminded.  
  
There was a slight shuffling in the dark corner. He supposed she was shaking her head. "I.I.I.can't," she said brokenly. "It.hurts me."  
  
He blinked in shock, head snapping in direction of her voice. The idea of anything hurting Lina was nothing short of surprising. "What happened?"  
  
"Can't," Lina's whispered voice drifted toward him.  
  
"I'm going to guess then. Did someone hurt you in a fight?"  
  
".No."  
  
"Did.," he paused in consideration, and then decided to ask, seeing as the state she was in could be induced by something nothing short of hell. "Did.someone rape you?"  
  
"Oh, L-sama, no!" she gasped.  
  
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's see then. Did someone curse you?"  
  
There was a long, long pause. Then finally she muttered "No," in a tiny voice.  
  
He pondered the long pause. "Did something curse you?" he inquired, rewording his question slightly.  
  
She frowned, and whispered, "Yes."  
  
"Was it a potion?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Was it a curse on a place?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Was it a spell?"  
  
".Yes."  
  
"Was it a spell of yours?"  
  
"Yes," she replied, choking slightly on the word. "Please, Zel.stop."  
  
"No, Lina! I-we have to know what made you like this. You have to tell someone. You can't stay locked up in this room for the rest of your life."  
  
"Wanna bet?" she whispered dryly.  
  
He frowned, and then figured there would be at least one way to get her up. Anger. "Fine then, I'm leaving," he said, and stood. "Abandon us all, you flat-chested little chicken. I thought you were brave and strong, but evidently, you're just a shivering pile of feces. Waste your life away. We won't spend anymore time worrying about a selfish hag who doesn't care back when people worry about her-agh!"  
  
He yelped in surprise, for Lina had decided to rise. And she had somehow managed to creep silently up on him and slam him into a wall. "Please don't say that about me," she whispered in a sad voice as he got his breath back.  
  
"Of course I didn't mean it," he replied. "I just wanted you to get up."  
  
Her hands dropped. He knew her head drooped as well, strands of hair swished against the fabric of his shirt. "Lina.," he whispered, "Let me see you."  
  
"No! No.you can't."  
  
He made an impatient noise. "Lina! You have to get over this. I can't help you until I can see what's wrong. I can't make you feel better until you tell me what happened," he insisted, forgetting to adopt the we in his emotional plea.  
  
She frowned and stepped back slightly. Then she spoke in short, choppy syllables "Fine. But a low powered spell only. And don't say anything."  
  
"All right," he agreed, and she took another half step back. "Lightning," he said, and cast a dimly glowing ball to the ceiling. The faint light flickered down, illuminating-he stared in silence.  
  
Lina gazed back at him with spectral golden eyes, head still tilted down. Her face looked paler and gaunter than he knew, probably due to the lack of sun and food. Her hair hung in a perfectly straight wave down to her elbows, still the same red. That didn't seem to be all though, as she suddenly reached up with clawed fingers to tuck the hair behind an ear that seemed to be fluted. He noted her arms were gashed horrendously but not bleeding. Her lips parted slightly, enough for him to briefly see hooked fangs, before her mouth clamped shut again. Still it wasn't all, as he noticed there seemed to be a faint bluish tint to her soft skin. "Can't do magic beyond water shamanism either.," she said unhappily to the silent chimera.  
  
He took a step closer to her, but she equaled out the distance again by stepping back. "What happened?" he asked quietly.  
  
"I was in that library we found a few days ago, and found a book on Water Demons. In it was a spell for contacting Deep Sea Dolphin, and I decided to do so as it's rumored if you beat her in a quick battle she'll give you a mazoku spell." He nodded, not reprimanding. He had tried something similar in the past. "So I go to this cavern down by a lake, and set every thing up. And I called her, except she's a little.off.," she continued to relate the story, memories flashing into her mind's eye.  
  
"Sooo.why have you disrupted me, little Dra-Mata? Lina Inverse? Dra-Mata?" sang-song the blue haired lady.  
  
"I wish to battle you for the knowledge of a mazoku spell!" Lina replied confidently, power flaring in her hands.  
  
The woman giggled, idly snapping an oyster shell to dust with her slender fingers. "Fool. I thought a powerful sorceress as is you would know that was but a ruse. I shall have to punish you for interrupting me of course."  
  
"What? I don't think so! Drago-"  
  
"Silence!" the mazoku mistress hissed, and suddenly Lina had found herself unable to speak. Unable to move, even. The woman circled her, chuckling. "I think that, that, that a little redecoration is in order here. First we kill the target.," she said matter of factly, and sent a shard of ice into Lina's heart and out the back. She recalled the ice shard and brought the sorceress back to life, reparing the damage with water and ice. "Then we redecorate..snip, snip! Cut, cut! Decorate, reorganize! Here we have a Lina Inverse, custom fit, fit, fit, to the liking of Deep Sea Dolphin!"  
  
The woman laughed and cast a mirror in front of Lina, took off the silence spell. And Lina glanced at her expression and screamed-an unearthly, high- pitched scream.  
  
The woman grinned, and stepped closer. "You are a partial water golem now, Lina Inverse-erse-erse. And.you owe me your life." With that, the woman disappeared.  
  
Lina hung her head even further, tale finished. The great Lina Inverse had been beaten so easily. How? Why? How had the mazoku beaten her? Not so much beaten as destroyed. Twisted. Perverted. She heard short footsteps coming toward her and glanced up as Zel's hands gently clasped her bare upper arms.  
  
He waited until she looked into his eyes, and gazed steadily back, lifting one of his rock hands to her chin and tilting her face up to his. He brought his hand down to the small of her back and pulled her closer, simultaneously leaning down to the petite sorceresses' height.  
  
And kissed her, right on the lips. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she leaned almost eagerly into it, golden eyes quickly shut. She threw her arms around him and held him closer, stunned, the first spring of happiness swelling in her heart. She melted, dizzy, into the firm romantic kiss until he finally leaned back slightly and hugged her to him.  
  
"Zel.?" she whispered, touching the tips of his wire hair lightly. The wire seemed to press right against the flesh as if it were gel then leave only dots instead of drops of blood.  
  
"Sorry," he muttered, as he rest the side of his face atop her head. "I always try to.not lose control.couldn't help it, you're so unhappy," he apologized brokenly.  
  
She shook her head slightly, gently touching his neck. "No.don't apologize. I."  
  
"Shh," he murmured, eyes shut.  
  
She did smile then, and leaned away slightly to kiss his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered, lips brushing his skin.  
  
"I'll help you with this Lina.I'll stay with you. I won't leave you, ever. You know."  
  
"Hm.?"  
  
"I love you."  
  
"Even like this.?" she inquired, again gazing into his diamond eyes.  
  
He gazed right back into her newly gold ones, and nodded. "I love you too," she burst suddenly, a run of emotions fighting for control of her heart.  
  
His smile widened as he pulled her closer still. "Even like this.?" he repeated. She smiled back, a myriad of grateful emotions dancing across her still beautiful face. "You're still Lina," he told her, parroting something he had said earlier.  
  
"You're still Zel.," she replied, a tear rolling down her cheek.  
  
He caught the droplet on the tip of his finger and held it to his lips. "Why are you crying?" he asked her, surprised.  
  
"I.never thought that something like this.," she gestured to her face. "Would make me happier than I've ever been in my whole life." 


End file.
